I'm baaaaack

From a wonderful three days with the Sister Servants of the Eternal Word in Birmingham, Alabama!

I can honestly say that this weekend was the most spiritually refreshing of my life. The atmosphere of prayer and devotion was indescribable, and the retreat master, Fr. Clancy, was fantastic!

I actually got there a day early, so I spent Friday helping the Sisters to prepare for the retreat. I got to put towels up on the racks and pillow cases on pillows with Sister Katie, the postulant, who was very sweet and patient with me while I figured out the slightly complex towel system ;) That afternoon, we both went down to help Sister Ave Maria glue hands into these beautiful statues of the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus. Sister Ave Maria is a wonderful, holy character; she has real personality! They managed to get me to play "Good Christian Men Rejoice" for the two of them on Sister Katie's violin. It was a pretty bad rendition, but they still applauded ;) I can not remember the last time I had so much fun.

The retreat itself was amazing. This particular retreat is frequented by ladies from a particular parish in Memphis, Tennessee; being good Southern folks they were very talkative, friendly, and fun! Fr. Clancy gave very profound, meaningful conferences, but he also had some funny stories to tell us. He also enrolled a whole bunch of people, including myself, in the Confraternity of Mount Carmel. So now I have a scapular!

Christ gave me many graces during my time at Casa Maria. Frankly, I loved it there. If all goes according to plan, I'll be able to graduate in November and start taking care of my college debts, which come to about $10,000. And I feel like I should visit at least one monastery, just to test whether I have a contemplative vocation.

I am sure that everything will work out, even if not in the way I currently expect! God is good.

And, by the way, I can't recommend the retreats at Casa Maria enough! If you are in the need for spiritual refreshment, I would see about heading down to Birmingham as soon as you can. You can find their current retreat schedule here. And, by the way, you can be sure that all of the retreat masters are solid and that you won't be hand-fed any nonsense. If you need a good injection of optimism about the future of the Church, spend one day at Casa Maria and you'll have just what you need :)